Reality-Competition Program

“Margot Robbie murders it; she just killed that role,” declares Joel Kinnaman as we chat via webcam (watch above) about his “Suicide Squad” co-star, who plays Harley Quinn. “Personally I think she’s gonna do that role for 15 years. She’s so good in it. There’s so much going on in her face and eyes. It’s crazy and sadness and fun and insanity.”

In this highly anticipated film version of the DC comic, in which a team of villains, rouges and criminals are assembled by the government for a dangerous black ops mission, Kinnaman plays military leader Rick Flagg. The actor, best-known for TV’s “The Killing” and “House of Cards,” describes him “as one of the few characters where there was a right and a wrong.” To prepare for the part he went through “a three-day military immersion boot camp with Navy SEALs. ”

As he explains, “We didn’t sleep for 65 hours and we were out in the woods carrying 50 pound backpacks. It all ended up in this abandoned meat locker on the outskirts of Toronto. There I had to lead real military exercises, after not sleeping. It really made me understand how incredibly mentally strong these guys are.”

Kinnaman readily admits “I’ve never been on a movie where there’s such a big cast. The movie has eight lead characters. We became a little posse there on set. Every day was like going to hang out with your best friends and they just happened to be absolute lunatics. These really extreme personalities were bunched together. It was this little pressure cooker of fun.”

With an underwhelming critical response, “Suicide Squad” may not seem like an awards player. However, poor reviews didn’t keep “The Lone Ranger (2013) or “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011) from scoring Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects.